The invention relates generally to the electrohydraulic servovalves and more particularly to means for attaching a pair of transducers to a single driving element for use with electrohydraulic servovalves.
When a plurality of transducers such as LVDTs, potentiometers or the like are to be moved simultaneously by a single driven element, several problems immediately present themselves. The assembly of the plurality of transducers to be driven by the single driven element must be relatively simple to accomplish and must also be capable of being easily disassembled to replace the transducer in the event of malfunction thereof. Thus, there can be no permanent attachment between the transducers and the driven element. If such a permanent attachment is required then such may necessitate discarding of the transducer or at least a major part thereof in the event of a malfunction.
Since the transducers in such a configuration normally provide duplicate signals for use in various functions with an overall system, it is important that the transducers once properly adjusted, reproduce output signals consistently and track each other precisely. If such does not occur, then the redundancy required in the plurality of output signals is not accomplished. To provide this consistency there must be zero backlash in the mechanism interconnecting the driven element to the transducers.
The best prior art known to applicants are U.S. Pat. Nos.: 335,892, Cosford et al, Feb. 9, 1886; 632,562, Godfrey, Sept. 5, 1899; 1,660,982, Woolson, Feb. 28, 1928; 3,532,109, J. Smith, Oct. 6, 1970; 3,438,306, Kazmarek, Apr. 15, 1969; 3,143,042, Borgeson et al, Aug. 4, 1964; 3,986,780, Nivet, Oct. 19, 1976; 4,150,686, El Sherif et al, Apr. 24, 1979.